• MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      You realize loads of working class folks live in areas where public transit is massively underfunded, so they have no choice but to get a car to commute, right? And moving to an area where there’s better public transit isn’t example a simple process, especially if you’ve got kids in school.

      • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        I feel like you are not engaging with the point but rather making some unrelated point of your own.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Cuz cops aren’t here to help people, they’re here to defend the wealthy’s assests…

    People have been learning this lesson for decades, it’s just most people never have to interact with police outside a rare traffic ticket.

    • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      The police exist to maintain the state’s “monopoly on violence”. Their core function is to do violence against members of a state on behalf of that state; the police are the only people with the power to wield that violence. Everything else the police do is just PR and authority creep.

      They should be stripped down to their minimum function of hurting people. People SHOULD be afraid when they see the police. People SHOULD think that nothing good can come to them from interacting with the police. All other functions should be moved to people without the power of violence.

      It’s clear that some police are with me on this idea. The rest can be retrained as social workers so they can do the rest of the job we currently use police for.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      They’re also not smart. The amount of work that goes into tracking target vehicles, syncing fake keyfobs, loading them into sea containers, and sending them on an international shipment to an overseas client in incredibe. This isn’t being done by idiots. I can’t imagine someone who got C’s in highschool figuring out how it works or finding a way to stop it.

    • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Yep - not u common in my shitass city these days for a couple cops to be posted at the doors of safeway, walmart, etc. full time. Me getting mugged by 5 tweakers in broad daylight? 8 hour response time. Homeless dude stealing bread to survive? Immediately arrested.

      Meanwhile the police force complains that they need more money because they don’t have enough resources to do their jobs… full 1/3rd of our civic budget already. Totally fucking useless, unless you’re a big brand.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        A lot of the time they’re paid overtime rates by the company and not being paid by the city.

        They’re private security but still wear cop uniforms, drive cop cars, and often sit in their cars burning gas we pay for with taxes.

        Businesses are fine paying it, because it’s better than paying taxes for real policing and having to wait.

        It’s moving to full on privatized policing, gated communities do the same shit rather than pay taxes.

        When this stuff happens, it never ends well for anyone, but often eventually results in sociatial progress once the ashes settle.

        • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I know they’re paid for by Walmart/whoever, but they should get actual private security that doesn’t cost the taxpayer 300 grand to train and prepare for service. The police force can stop complaining about being understaffed too when they’re playing rentacop.

          Congrats officer you caught a guy stealing 2 loaves of bread and a $10 rotisserie chicken. Mind going to arrest the guy who committed an assault 2 blocks away just now?

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          A lot of the time they’re paid overtime rates by the company and not being paid by the city.

          That’s true in Canada, except those hours worked are added to their union pensionable hours, so taxpayers are still on the hook.

  • HungryJerboa@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Defend your stuff with a gun, and watch how fast police respond.

    Pathetic. If I had to start over, I’d go into petty theft as well, knowing how poorly it’s policed.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      My buddy in Texas found a way to get an immediate police response when his car was stolen.

      He had an AirTag under the seat, so he knew exactly where it was after it was stolen. He called police, and got the runaround. They’re too busy to respond, they’ll send an officer out to take a report when they have a chance, etc…

      Then he mentioned his handgun was under the drivers seat. Police were on-site in less than 3 minutes, with multiple cruisers and guns drawn.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    I fully support citizens stepping in to fight crime if they are willing and able.

    If you knew where your stolen property was, you should have automatic legal protection for whatever it takes to get it back.

    It’s crazy to have a taxpayer funded criminal and legal system that isn’t working for them.

    • lud@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      As long as you do get any rights to use violence, I absolutely agree.

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        I wouldn’t want violence to be the answer to anything, but if balanced and appropriate force is needed to safely retrieve your property, then you should be protected by law.

        For example, if you’re going to get your stolen bike back, you should be 100% legally protected if the dickwad who stole is needs to be restrained (for your safety), or if their backyard gate needs to be broken open.

        And if the dickwad decides to use violence, you should be 100% protected for using self-defence.

        The caveat, of course, is that you better be damn sure that someone is in possession of your property, and that appropriate force, if necessary, is used.

        If it turns out that you violated someone’s rights or broke into the wrong property, you should have to face consequences.

        • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          Canada’s self defense laws are garbage; we have a duty to retreat, so if you go looking for your stolen property and have to defend yourself, you’re getting in trouble for it.

          But I do realize you were talking about what the laws should be, not what they are

          • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            Yes, what they should be. And you are right, there’s no protection for law abiding citizens who are the victims. All benefit goes to criminals, and our “10 strikes and we’ll give you another chance” way of doing things is clearly not in favour for the rest of us.

            • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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              3 months ago

              FTR, I don’t think longer sentences against individual perpetrators is the solution. There are always more poor kids to pull into the gang.

              The only way to successfully deal with violent gangs is actual good investigation; implicate the people in charge, and put them in jail instead of their pasties. In the USA they’d use RICO to do so if they wanted to, which they don’t. Here in Canada, I’m not sure which law would be the most effective route, but it probably doesn’t matter anyways

          • lud@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            Yeah, self defense is about defending yourself, and not your stuff.

    • pipsqueak1984@lemmy.caOP
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      3 months ago

      I 100% agree with this, but instead we have rulings like Khill.

      Despite the government and courts discouraging it, I hope more citizens take matters into their own hands in ways that increase the actual risk to car thieves. Perhaps the government will start taking it seriously after that.

  • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    The circle remains unbroken: Police react with minimal investigation, numbers are logged. The insurance pays out and premiums are increased. There are ample thieves and buyers. The ports collect cargo fees, and many containers are unchecked when the vehicles are shipped away. The auto company makes and sells another vehicle. The politicians react. Some excuse the criminals and others excoriate the accused. They react and raise taxes.

    This is the effect of crumbling institutions not the cause of it, although it reinforces the feedback loop. Keep shrinking the state by putting more of its functions into entities only responsible to their major shareholders and watch it get worse. It’s been the program since the modern resurgence of market fundamentalism.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      I agree with you, and another way of looking at it is that the system is working perfectly as intended. The people who are happy with it are the ones who have the power to change it, but they don’t want to, because there’s no benefit to them.

      • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Absolutely. This what neoliberalism does. It shifts who the system works for and who has power to control it from the many to the few.

  • _thebrain_@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Something similar happend to me in Connecticut. Some underaged kid driving her father’s SUV backed into my car in a parking lot. She got out, apologized. I took a picture of her, the car and the license plate. She apologized to me and called her father who told her to get back in and drive home. It took the police 6 hours to respond, finally around 2am. They took the details and looked up the vehicle which had expired insurance. They went to the owners house, found the vehicle and knocked on the door. When no one answered (at 3am) they gave up, closed the case and told me to take it up with my insurance because they were understaffed. My insurance company tried using them for 6 months but eventually gave up as well as the police basically refused to help with anything other then the report.

  • Nogami@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Sounds like politically induced fud. Gonna skip the article.

    But if I lived somewhere that had this problem I’d be wiring-in a kill switch somewhere. No punk is gonna take the time to track it down especially if well concealed.

  • smallpatatas@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    The people stalking our neighbourhoods preying on people’s success

    Interesting phrase there. Whole piece was definitely overblown, but this kinda gives away the game.

  • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Our car got stolen from out driveway in Waterdown. When we called the police they said:

    Why are you calling us, call your insurance company

    The neighbour’s CRV was stolen 24hrs later. Police don’t prevent crime they only punish those that police suspect of being a criminal (or people they just don’t like). Cut their funding and put it into education, healthcare or transit.

    • tarsn@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I work on a construction site. We have cameras everywhere. One night a bunch of guys came with a company truck and started loading up copper pipes and going through job boxes looking for tools. The police were called and they said they weren’t going to come out because the guys might have weapons.

      • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Cut their funding and put it into education, healthcare or transit.

        Police are not heroes, they are thugs to keep the proles in place.

  • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Elected officials must take decisive action. We need stronger deterrents, enhanced enforcement resources and a clear, co-ordinated strategy. Stop reacting, please. We need a response.

    Jessica doesn’t know what we need. Jessica is scared and Wants Someone To Do Something. “Stronger deterrents” never work, have never worked, and we KNOW they won’t work. We are already paying more for law enforcement than we can reasonably afford.

    I dunno, this is fishy.